EPIC Applauds FTC for Regulating Harmful AI Practices, Pushes Agency to Identify Such Practices as Unfair

EPIC filed comments in support of the FTC’s recent proposed consent agreement with Workado, a company that made false claims about the accuracy and efficacy of its AI services. The company claimed that its service could determine whether content was human or AI-generated with 98% accuracy. However, the service was only 53% accurate. Companies should not mislead to consumers to peddle technology that collects, uses, and retains consumers’ personal information for a certain purpose—in this case to detect human or AI generated content—without fulfilling that purpose.

EPIC’s comments highlight the rampant problem of AI companies overinflating their services. This is especially harmful to the average consumer who cannot investigate an AI company’s claims or test their accuracy. Tech companies, corporate consultants, and vendors often tout their AI services as near-magical. These bloated claims purport that AI can do the impossible—a product or service that can do anything, perfectly or near perfectly, with no negative externalities, cheaply, and instantaneously.

EPIC applauds the Commission’s efforts to use its authorities to protect consumers from harmful AI-powered business practices. EPIC applauds the Commission for using its authorities to regulate harmful AI practices. We encourage the Commission to require Workado to submit its claims about accuracy and efficacy to an independent, third party auditor to prove they are truthful. EPIC also encourages the Commission to identify this type of harmful business activity as an unfair practice, as this is the type of harm that fits squarely within the Commission’s unfairness authority.

EPIC regularly advocates for strong protections for consumers against harmful AI practices. EPIC has previously encouraged the Commission to investigate an AI-powered fraud detection system that claimed to be able to accurately detect fraud—a claim disproven by independent research. EPIC looks forward to the Commission continuing to take action against harmful AI practices in the future.